Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Accuquilt Go! Baby Review and Giveaway!

Last Fall at Quilt Market I met many of the very nice people who represent Accuquilt. They asked if I would be interested in giving my review on my blog about their newest product the Go! Baby Die Cutter. Of course I agreed, and this is the story of how it went.

I had used the Go! Studio, and the Go! Cutter in the original size and liked both products. I felt they were too large for my needs, and my smaller space. I never bought either one of those. They were out my price range at the time too. I had never tried the smaller more compact version of the Go! Baby and wanted to. So earlier this year the good people at Accuquilt.com sent me the Go! Baby and three dies. They sent the Hexagon, and the 5" Charm Square die. Also one of the dies they sent was for the larger cutter, that was a clerical error when the order was entered. The die was for the 2 1/2" strips, but it was too large to run through the Baby. It took a little while to get the correct die because the 2 1/2" strip die for the Baby is a popular one, and was out of stock at that time. I did receive it after it was back in stock, and was able to test it. They kept track of my replacement order until the item was ready to ship. I have to mention, the customer service at Accuquilt is wonderful. I used the online chat as well as the phone customer service, and both were very helpful and knowledgeable. So if you ever have any issue with an order from Accuquilt, you can rest assured they will take care of you. This quality of customer service seems more rare than common with many online retailers lately, and I feel it is worth mentioning when you have a great experience. So once I had all the dies I was ready to get started and the following is my review.

PRO's:

Love the compact footprint and that it folds up small! This makes it so easy to store on a table or in a closet.

No set-up or build time with this one. The Studio Cutter requires some set-up, but then it is much bigger. The Baby pulls right out of the box and is ready to use.

The handle turns in both directions, so you can feed the dies from left or right. Very good news for Lefty's!

Very affordable at around $140 for the machine. The dies are also a little smaller and thus less expensive than are the bigger dies. Some of them are as low as $20, and Accuquilt.com is always having sales! Some are on sale right now for $17!

So easy to roll the handle with the dies in there. I found the larger Go Cutter was more cumbersome. I think anyone with Arthritis or Carpal Tunnel in their wrists or hands will find this one very easy to use! You don't have to have a super strong grip to get the dies through.

Love the non-slip feet.

Many of the dies have little triangles that are cut out on the fabric to help you line up your pieces. This was great when sewing my Apple Core quilt because I knew right where to pin. There was no need to fold each one in half to find the center, Accuquilt already had!

They are bringing out more and more dies with fun shapes, and loads of "typical" quilting sizes and shapes.

I already said it, but they have amazing customer service and that goes a very long way with me!

CON's:

Yes there is some fabric waste. Okay I said it, big deal. It isn't as if we aren't all out there buying fabric like crazy anyway! You do need a little extra fabric (maybe a few extra inches for a lot of cutting) to account for potential waste when cutting even simple geometrical shapes. But seriously, if you are that frugal you may not see the need to buy this little wonder and it's dies. I don't get that caught up in fabric waste, so consider the source.

You can only use the smaller 6" wide dies, the larger 8" and 10" ones won't go through this little guy.

Stripes are a potential headache to cut on the Go! Baby in straight style dies. Dies like a Hexagon, or an Apple Core are no biggie. But trying to line up the stripes just right for squares and rectangles could require an Excedrin.

Needs to be used on a sturdy surface that is not wobbly at all. Actually that is just my personal recommendation because I used it on one table and it was really shaking that table a bit. Maybe I am being to rough though-who could say? Those non-slip feet kept the machine in place though.

You have to buy the dies separately, and they can be pricey. Again, look for sales!

Different lengths of dies require different cutting pads. These are the grey mat you place over the top of the die and fabric so it cuts the fabric and gets a good grip in the rollers. So if you need that 2 1/2" strip die, plan on buying the 6" x 24" long cutting mat too. You might to budget more for that one, but if you are cutting 450 2 1/2" strips for a weekend retreat, the Go! Baby will save your blade and your hands a lot of wear and tear!

So that's my take on the Go! Baby. I love mine and would recommend it to any quilter I meet. By the way if you are making a Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt by hand, the Hexagon Die has 3 of the most common sizes (2", 3" and 5" unfinished size) and it is a life saver when cutting out hexies!

This is my Apple Core quilt and all of the Apple Cores were cut out using the Go! Baby. It took about 90 minutes to cut them all out, but imagine how long it would have taken if I had to trace each one and cut out by hand!

Lastly, here is the info on the giveaway:
One winner will receive (1) Accuquilt Go! Baby die cutter machine and (2) dies of their choice.
1. To enter you have to leave me a comment here on this post about why you need this Die Cutter.
2. For another shot at winning tell all your friends through either a Blog Post with a direct link to my giveaway, or Tweet with a link, or Facebook it with a link. Then come back here and tell me you mentioned my giveaway to all your friends and fans. Easy- two shots at winning. (You don't get extra chances if you FB, Tweet and Blog about this though-- I have to draw the line somewhere.) Giveaway ends Sunday Oct 30th 9PM MST. The winner will be announced when I get back from Houston on Monday Oct 31st.

I would love it if you decide to follow my blog-- but I won't make you do that for this giveaway.

Check the link out at the top of my blog-- 22 free patterns from Accuquilt! Everyone wins with this one!

Here is the fine print: I am not responsible for these items being lost or damaged in transit. You as the winner will need to report such instances to Accuquilt. I am holding the giveaway, but Accuquilt is sponsoring it which means they are shipping the winners items direct. Giveaways are great, but participants must realize I set forth the rules, and I randomly choose the winner. (When I say random-- it is truly as random as it gets and is completely fair) If I have contacted the winner and have had no response from them after 9 days, they forfeit the prize winnings to the next random winner of my choice. I have a life and cannot be expected to chase everyone down. It is a giveaway, not life or death. Basically, I don't want to hear a bunch of griping about how this is run. It's my giveaway, my rules, you don't like it- don't play. Simple.http://www.accuquilt.com/

I've thought about this and thought about this. Do I *need* one? I think so. Temporarily (next 2-5 months) I'm laid up in a cast and that makes cutting difficult. There are so many projects I'd like to do that I'm just not up to cutting! Plus it's so accurate and fast -- what's not to like about that?! :)

Most of the time I enjoy the "cutting" process. But this would be excellent for those times when I just want to get started! I would love to use the apple core die, as I cannot imagine trying to cut out all those shapes

Wow, first of all "thank you" for hosting such an awesome giveaway! I would love to win the Accuquilt Go! Baby for several reasons, but mostly because it is a precious time saver! Need I say more, plus the accuracy of the fabric pieces once they are cut are simply perfect, which makes it very easy to line up when sewing the fabric together.

Thanks for the review! I wondered how sturdy of a table you had to have it on and now I know!

I would love to have this Baby because I want to make some of the more "odd" shaped blocks, like the hexagon, tumbler, apple core and the drunkard's path. This would save tons of time and my pieces would be uniform and go together easier.

I always tell my kids there are 'needs' and 'wants'. I can't really justify 'needing' this, but I'd sure like one to use to cut out applique pieces~ I always seem to mess those up. ;-) Thanks for the great review and wonderful giveaway!

Oh boy need or want...that seems to be the question. Of course I want one, I would say I need one so I can finish more than 2 or 3 projects a year since most of my time is spent cutting. I suppose that time I spend at work cuts down on project time too, but I am more likely to win a Go Baby than the lottery,.

I would LOVE to win this Go!Baby cutter ... would be great to share it with my daughter and niece. Both are really getting into quilting now, they have been more productive than I am!Thanks for the chance to win!

Would love to try this smaller version...small sewing room...have to watch new getting new gadgets. Thanks for the awesome give-a-way and I hope to see you in Houston this weekend. Love your apple core quilt.

Great review on the Accuquilt. It would be a great tool to have.I loved listening to your radio interview. It was like just visitng together on a lovely afternoon. Congratulations on the new one. Your girls are going to love it.

In my head I think I will be more efficient if I have one of these! I would love to make my Mom a quilt for Christmas, and I need A LOT of 5 inch squares for it- and I really don't like cutting so many squares! So I NEED it for my sanity! :) Thanks for the chance!

Wow--I've never been asked why I need this tool. I need this cutter because I have arthritis in my wrists and hands. I love quilts made with hexagons and apple cores and other interesting shapes, but it hurts too much to cut them out. Thank you for hosting this giveaway. (and totally unrelated, but I really love the wallpaper on your blog!)

I am a very slow cutter & find it the most scary job in quilting. I have been known to have a few V cuts here & there hence why I am no careful but so painfully slow. I never cut a quilt all at once just as I need to. Thanks.

I'm a new quilter and am saving for one of these because I was thinking it'd save a ton of time or the shapes for quilts. I have been using charm packs to make a 10 minute block quilt but I ran out then I saw these and it's a case of serious want going on.c

I would use the Go! Baby to cut my stash up so I can start making some scrappy quilts. I would also use it to cut fabrics for my church's Hugs Ministry. We make quilts, pair them with stuffies and give them to the local fire department for kids in crisis situations. Thank you for the chance to win. Take care and God bless, Cory

I do multi-fabric quilts....okay, scrappy quilts! My favorites are hexagons and applecore. My shoulders are giving out (fibromyalgia), and if I had a Go! Baby my hubby would cut the pieces out for me. Yay, machines!

I don't just need one of these machines I'm desperate for one! I've entered more giveaways than I can count in the hope that sooner or later I will get lucky.I would love to be able to do all the quilt designs such as apple core accurately. I'd like to use the Go Baby for cute applique shapes and I now that I am having shoulder and arm problems it would make life a lot easier too.Thanks for the chance to enter.Margaret

This sounds like such a great machine. Thanks for an opportunity to win one. What would I do with it- I have fabric that was my mothers (who was an avid quilter) and I remember her using cardboard templates (ugghh) to cut her fabrics. I'd cut those fabrics using the Go Cutter and sew up those fabrics in no time. Mom always gave quilts away to those in need, and I will continue her tradition.

Thanks for the chance to win. I need it because I love to sew and quilt, but I HATE to cut. This would make cutting all those little curves and fancy pieces that I like to sew (like apple core and hexagon) a breeze.

I could really use a GO Cutter it would be so helpful in creating more charity quilts. I love the idea of less time cutting giving me more time to sew and be creative. Thanks for an opportunity to WIN!Hugs, Grace

I'd die and gone to quilting heaven if I win this Baby... because I really need one of this sooooooooooo bad, I need it for my quilting collegue classes, there are alot of homeworks and extra classes we need to finish to aprove, and certainly I don't want to be behind... I'd be a fast-busy bee if I could get one, I'll have more spare time to make more of my passion: q-u-i-l-t-s, yay!!!, thank you for sporing!

This is wonderful! I don't have a dedicated sewing area of any sort...I literally set my machine in front of me on the bed, then on the floor while I lay out my cutting mat on the bed...then switch them back. LOL. You get the idea. I have 6 children, so no signs of a "sewing" room opening up any time soon ;) The Go Baby would make it much easier to get to the point where I actually get to sew something!

cindyw6621@yahoo.com.auHi therre, thank you for the chance to win this wonderful prize.I "need" one of these because I need to get into hand work and this would make my hexies sooooo much faster.Thank you, Cindy.

I love your apple core quilt. I would never even attempt this quilt unless I had a Accuquilt Go! Baby machine. Thanks for the great advice and for the great giveaway. I have been entering alot of giveaways and have not won one yet. I am being patient!!

I am consumed with envy, the apple core quilt is on my 'love to make this' list but due to lymphodema and other bothersome issues from breast cancer I cant cut fiddly things well and I can only use a rotary cutter for a short time. This is an amazing machine, I suddenly see the possibilities instead of the negativities. I would adore to use this freedom machine!

I slept with an apple core quilt on my bed when I was young. I'm sure it must be over 100 yrs old by now. If I am ever going to replicate that quilt, then I surely will need this cutting machine. Thanks for the giveaway and the chance to win.

Thanks for the chance to win! Cutting all of those apple cores in 90 minutes was reason enough for me. A friend has a GO! and I saw it in action. It's very sturdy and easy to operate. Would be great to have a baby one in my sewing room.

I love youf apple core quilt. The core quilt is on my list to make so that is one of the ways I would use the go baby. I also want to make a quilt using appliqued hearts. I have an idea brewing and would love the go baby to help with the cutting. Thanks for hosting the giveaway!

I probably "need" this too much, because I'm finding my accuracy in cutting and accuracy in my 1/4 inch seams both contribute to my having problems when assembling my quilt top. I'm a fairly new quilter, and I'm learning as I go. And...even though I didn't need to become a follower, after reading through some of our older posts, I decided I wanted to become a follower. Can't wait to see who wins! Even if it's not me, I'll know there is somebody somewhere jumping up and down with joy.

I've been wanting to make a hexagon quilt for a long time and this GO! Baby would be wonderful for cutting out all the pieces. I love your apple core quilt and this little baby would be great for cutting these pieces as well. Thanks so much for a wonderful giveaway.

Thanks for the great review, Kari. As I often tell my husband, "need" doesn't usually enter into my vocabulary when it comes to quilting items :) I'd love to win the GO! Baby so I can use it at my guild and take it with me when travelling as it is so portable. Thanks for the opportunity to win.

I "need" this device because we have two girls in college and a 3rd one about to enter next Fall so $$ is very tight and I cannot afford one but I'd of course LOVE it if I won!!! I know I could put it to good use especially with a hexagon die! Thanks for the opportunity to be in your drawing!

Thank you Kari for a great post. I made a grandmothers flower garden with hand made templates. Saved them, but don't plan on doing that again. It is so hard to get all of them the same size. I would love to make a tumbler block quilt, so that is why I would like to win.PS-love your fine print message!

I would love to have a Go Baby!! It would be a real time saver especially with some of the difficult shapes. Cutting out is what takes so much time.....thanks for a chance to win! quiltsbycheryl@hotmail.com

Thanks for hosting this give away. This would be so cool to have. Would I buy one for myself, probably not as I don't have the extra money. Would it save me time - Yes. Would be great for applique pieces.

Kari,Thank you for one of the best reviews I've read about the Accuquilt Go! Baby. Your apple core quilt is lovely!! I've never wanted to make one until I saw yours. :))In order to make it I think I REALLY need the Go! Baby...okay I know I need it. lol It would be accurate, and oh sew fast I would actually be able to get it finished. Quilts take me months.Thanks for the chance to win!!

A very good review! I'm glad you had enough pros vs cons to help me evaluate this Go!Baby - I would love to speed up my cutting with such a neat machine, especially with the applique shapes - thanks for the opportunity to win!

Thanks so much for the honest review of the cutter. Your apple core quilt is beautiful,very quick to get it all cut out. I would love to share this prize with my 83 year old Mum, she loves patchwork too and I think this would be great for her.Thanks for the chance to participate in your giveaway.Happy days.Bev.xoxo

I would love this so that I could get my niece involved in quilting. It would help her with a sense of accomplishment if she could cut her own pieces and I won't allow her to use my rotary cutter. I always tell her I can't send her home broken so she has to stay away from the rotary cutter. LOL! Thanks for the opportunity to win!=)

I saw these advertised but realized that an item like this is way out of my price range. I have only been quilting a little while but am addicted. I would LOVE to own one of these! Thanks for giving us all the opportunity to win. LOVE YOUR STORIES. The inspiration you give is awesome.

Wow, this would be an awesome addition to my sewing room. I've looked at the machines but they were always out of my budget. I would use it to cut out shapes to applique. After all, I just became a grandma and I'm looking forward to making some fun quilts for my grandson. L. GoodCanadathegoodfamily@hotmail.comPs love your blog/website

I would love to win the Go! Baby cutter. I've just started my quilting journey and anything that will make it easier is what I need. I've been drooling over the Go! Baby at my favorite quilt shop for several months now..... :)

Great quilt with the black white and green - tumblers are tricky for matching without the GO! die (baby or otherwise) - hope can win any kind of GO! so my mother and I have an easier time of cutting fabric. Thanks for that chance. Wishing you a safe return trip from Market!

I'd love to be able to cut out shapes quickly & perfectly. I've been wanting to make a tumbler quilt & an apple core quilt but as you said the thought of cutting out all those pieces has kept me just wishing to make those quilts... I also would like to use some of the shapes to embellish my kids clothing. Thanks for the chance to win! :)

What a fantastic review...thank you. I would like to make a quilt with circles but circles are just down right painful to cut out nice and smoothly...so the "Go" would be a fantastic gadget to do this...thanks for the opportunity to enter.Khris

I "need" the Accuquilt Go! to give my hands a rest from too much fabric cutting with scissors. The Accuquilt Go! would give my cramped hand and arm the needed rest because it would do the cutting for me. I would also share it with my quilter friends!My email: brendatexan@hotmail.comThanks for the opportunity and I am enjoying your blog.